I really don't know what you use for a wood filler, so I may be out of line here, so if I am wrong then please correct me. I am not a fan of using commercial wood fillers due to the ingredients they contain. Most of them use such chemicals as acetone or acetate as a solvent and/ or use plastic fibers or granules as the primary filler material and I am really not confident in how safe they are for the birds. I do see how these materials could discourage the bird from continuing to chew in that area though.

Although it does not produce as smooth of a surface without a bit of sanding to it the only filler that I use where my birds chew is made at home using only a fine sawdust ( the finer the better) and Elmer's white or wood glue as that is the safest glue that I have been able to find for this purpose. If you are lucky enough you might be able to find some hide glue like the kind that used to be used for restoring some antique furniture.

Rainbow came from a woman who treated her like a child. found out she was pregnant and wanted to reduce her family to make more time for her baby. She was going to sell Rainbow. I could not stand the thought of him rehoming to someone who will treat him like a bird. All I knew was that she would follow the dogs and run with the pack and that he could say words. He came with a large vocabulary but I heard him talking softly to no one. He was looking out the window and practicing words that he had not used on me yet. I laughed and scared him. His response was "don't you ever ever ever " do that again.

They practice their words to get them right before using them on humans.

Wolf wrote:I really don't know what you use for a wood filler, so I may be out of line here, so if I am wrong then please correct me. I am not a fan of using commercial wood fillers due to the ingredients they contain. Most of them use such chemicals as acetone or acetate as a solvent and/ or use plastic fibers or granules as the primary filler material and I am really not confident in how safe they are for the birds. I do see how these materials could discourage the bird from continuing to chew in that area though.

Although it does not produce as smooth of a surface without a bit of sanding to it the only filler that I use where my birds chew is made at home using only a fine sawdust ( the finer the better) and Elmer's white or wood glue as that is the safest glue that I have been able to find for this purpose. If you are lucky enough you might be able to find some hide glue like the kind that used to be used for restoring some antique furniture.

I do use the elmers and fine saw dust but mostly cut that trim out and put a new one in. Now my trim is raw wood like pajarita does so I'm not running around like a chicken with my head cut off. BW

Hello everybody and happy new year!! I have a horrible flu and am concerned on whether George can catch this from me. I have others tending to him right now but when I come down he just wants to be all up on me but I'm keeping my distance. Answers much appreciated.

Birds don't catch our flu or cold viruses but they can get pneumonia from the same bacteria we get for it so don't worry too much although I would not recommend you sneeze on him Happy New Year and hope you feel better soon!

I have a question. I've had George a year now and I can honestly say I think he hates his pellet food. He came to me eating Higgins intune natural so I've just kept him on it. He gets it towards late afternoon and will just pick at it here and there. He does not approach the dish like he does with his other foods. Morning he gets his fresh fruits and veggies and usually around lunch I give him a seed mixture. He eats with great joy at those feedings. Can I change his pellet food to another brand maybe?? Do I gradually mix it in or can I just give him all new? Am I feeding him at wrong times? As always, would appreciate some advice here. Also, the hawk is back. It's around zero degrees here but I guess he's still hunting for food. George is back by the window and growls and gets weird when the hawk flies down to land. Have to get out the Halloween decorations again and put them in yard near window. I really don't think he's ever going to leave

We have many hawks here. We have lost kittens and one cat I believe to them. In NC a little Screech Owl slammed into the sun room window repeatedly. I guess he wondered what a yellow cockatiel tasted like. The Tiels love sitting at the open window and I am afraid that a hawk could come right through the screen. My son used cage wire to reinforce the window from preditors.

I have an idea, but since I have never tried it and don't know anyone else that has tried it, I don't know how effective it would be or even the cost of it. It is simply using a window treatment to make the outside of the window into a mirror while still allowing you and George to see out.

If affordable the only real drawback that I can think of is if the window faces any direction that would have automobile traffic that could get hit with the reflective glare causing a brief period of blindness ( very dangerous).

I would also continue to use crow decoys and even a pinwheel or other distractions that use movement to keep the hawk away. Birds are pretty smart and it often takes a bit of study to understand what their natural enemies are and then a little creative thinking to put that all to use. I hope this helps you and maybe even give George more interesting things to look at out the window.

Another possibility is to put big hawk silhouettes on the window.If a real hawk thought another was already there it might put them off.You could cut them out of black paper and stick them to the inside of the window.You can get patterns for them on the web as they use them to stop small birds flying into windows.

Or possibly old cd's on string outside the window to distract the hawks.